Different Roads
by AnnieD68
Summary: When Glenn helps save the some of the group's members and get them out of Atlanta, there are unintended consequences. They lead to his alienation from the group, but he gains an unexpected ally in the process. What happens when the two are forced to set out on their own? AU from S1Ep5. Friendship for now (may be more later, but probably not). Rated T for bad language, lots of it.
1. Chapter 1

Different Roads

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_Author's Notes:_

_This story starts in Season 1, Episode 3 "Tell it to the Frogs" with a modification regarding conversation about the car, then goes AU in during Season 1, Episode 5 "Wildfire." Then all bets are off. Who knows where it will go. There is some OOC-ness because Glenn shows he has a pair early on and Daryl is kind of nice to him and stands up for him. Also, they swear, a lot. I personally think there is a lot of swearing in the zombie apocalypse and, as I don't have to answer to TV censors, there is a lot of swearing in this story._

_For now, this will be a Glenn and Daryl friendship. It may develop into more later, but I have not decided that yet. I guess I'll just have to see how the story unfolds. If I go with more than just a friendship, the summary will be updated and the rating may be changed to show it. Just to be sure, I'll also have an author's note for that chapter indicating the change so no one will be blind-sided by it._

_The very beginning is a conversation taken directly from Season 1, Episode 3 "Tell it to the Frogs" and it is italicized to distinguish it._

_I hope you enjoy it! _

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Chapter 1

* * *

BLAME

_Shane: "You crazy driving that wailing bastard up here? You trying to draw every walker for miles?"_

_Dale: "I think we're ok."_

_Shane: "Don't be stupid, ok?"_

_Dale: "That alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source. I'm not arguing…I'm just saying…(to Glenn) Wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"_

_Glenn: "Sorry. Got a cool car."_

Glenn started to walk away, but then he thought about it and he just started getting angry. He turned back around.

"Wait…wait just a minute. You know what? You need to shut the hell up. I '_think it through_' every goddamn time I go down into Atlanta and work my way through that infested city to find supplies so that we can all survive. You have no idea what we went through down there or what we just had to do to get out of there. So, you know what? You need to back the fuck off." Glenn turned and walked away.

A few minutes later, the large box truck pulled in. T-dog got out and walked over to where Shane and Dale stood by the car.

"Hey, man, what's wrong with Glenn?"

"He's mad because Shane was reprimanding him," Dale said.

"For what?" T-dog asked.

"About the car alarm," Shane said. "That was just plain being stupid. Kid don't know how to use his head." T-dog looks at Shane like he lost his mind.

"What the hell are you talking about? That kid's probably smarter than anyone here. He plans routes in, plans routes out, and uses head to come up with contingency plans on the fly. If you can do it better, next time get off your ass and go get your own shit."

* * *

The next day was a total shit-fest.

First, Daryl lost his deer to a fucking geek. _Then_ he got back to camp only to find out those assholes left his brother handcuffed to a roof. _Then_ when they get back to the rooftop to find Merle, they only found his hand. Yeah, total shit-fest.

From there it went downhill spectacularly.

They couldn't just run around the city trying to find Merle with the few weapons that they brought. They needed to get the guns. With those, they would be in a much better position. Daryl wasn't sure how they were going to manage it, but Glenn took charge and mapped out a plan. Daryl had never gotten to see him in action before and it was actually kind of impressive. Then Glenn got kidnapped. Yeah, total shit-fest.

Finally, they got Glenn back and had most of the guns to boot. Then the truck was gone. That was just great. They got to hoof it back to the camp. It was getting dark so they really had to move. They were almost back when they started to hear the gunfire. As they got closer, they could hear the screaming. When they entered, the camp it was total chaos. Yeah, a total fucking shit-fest.

* * *

The true horror of the previous night greeted them with the first light.

In the process of cleaning up the camp, Glenn got upset about them nearly burning one of their people. They were burning walkers. They were burying their people.

"What do you care?" Shane asked Glenn. "This is your fault." Everybody stopped working and looked over at them.

"What are you talking about?" Glenn asked.

From where Andrea still sat in shock, with Amy, they heard, "Shane's right. It is your fault. You brought them here."

Glenn still looked confused and was shocked that Andrea would say something like that.

"Remember that damn car alarm?" Shane asked him. "I said you'd attract every walker for miles. I was right."

Now that just pissed Daryl off.

"_You_ blame _Glenn_? The geeks were already up here, Dumbass. We saw it yesterday, remember? One was eatin' my deer, just in case you hadn't noticed. That car didn't bring 'em here. They's already up here. And take a look around. You could have moved camp if ya felt in that much danger. And ya could have been more diligent. But, no, you got no one on watch and you're havin' a goddamn cookout like it's fucking summer camp. Ever think of that? Maybe it was due to your fucking fish fry with your big-ass fire and no one on watch."

Andrea turns to Glenn. "I don't care what Daryl says. This," she said waving her arm around," this is all on you."

Glenn had more pain in that moment than in his entire life. No one looked at him as he walked to tent. Daryl looked around at a few specific people in the group.

"Don't forget it was him and that car that helped save your sorry asses," he said. He turned toward Andrea before he added, "including yours, you self-righteous bitch."

Then Daryl walked away.

* * *

While everyone was still busy, Glenn packed up some of his stuff and left. After not seeing him for a while, Sophia went to check on him. She found the tent empty and Glenn's backpack was gone. She went to her mother who was sitting with a few of the others near the fire pit.

"Mama, Glenn's gone."

"Son of a bitch," Daryl growled under his breath.

"Why would he just leave like that?" Carol asked.

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl asked bitterly before he picked up his crossbow and headed for the woods. Rick went to follow him.

"No, I'll go after Glenn myself. I can track him."

"You don't need to go alone," Rick said.

"Better on my own."

"It will be dark soon."

"Yeah, it will." Daryl turned to Shane. "Maybe want to make sure someone's on watch this time around." Then he stalked off into the forest, following the path that Glenn took.

* * *

It wasn't hard for him to find Glenn. Glenn's path probably might not have been completely obvious to others, but he had no trouble following it. To him it was like the runway lights at the fucking airport.

"You found me, big surprise," he said sarcastically.

"What're you doing running off like that. It'll be dark soon. Did you even bring a weapon?" Glenn held up the baseball bat. "Yeah, that's what I figured."

"Hey, it gets me in and out of the city."

"I know. But this is different and you know it." Glenn nodded.

"You need to get back," Glenn told him.

"Ain't going back without you."

"Don't you get it? I've been evicted, or expelled, or voted off the island. Take your pick. They don't want me there."

"Yeah, I get it, but this ain't the way to do it. You need your tent, and your supplies, and a real weapon, for God's sake."

"I'll figure it out," Glenn said with a sigh.

"They don't know what they're doing to themselves getting rid of you. They're screwing themselves. Let's go back. If there isn't a significant amount of groveling, we don't have to stay. If you just don't _want_ to stay, we don't have to stay. They don't deserve you, anyway. You're the one kept them alive, ungrateful shits."

"Why do you keep saying 'we?'"

"Don't want nothing to do with those bastards. They left my brother on a rooftop to die. I don't want to be with those people, but sometimes you don't have a choice. Can't do it out there alone. Now I have someone I think I can trust to watch my back."

"You trust _me_?" Glenn asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I think so, yeah," Daryl said with a shrug. Glenn took a deep breath and sighed.

"So, basically, you're just using me," Glenn said, looking at Daryl from the corner of his eye.

"Somethin' like that," Daryl said, the corner of his mouth curling upward slightly.

"OK. Let's go back, see if they have anything to say. If not, I'm done with them."

When they entered the camp area they didn't receive any acknowledgement. That was pretty much the end of any doubts they may have had about leaving. They packed up their stuff and loaded it and the motorcycle into Daryl's truck. People watched them but didn't say anything. Before they left, Daryl turned to the group.

"Hope you're happy. Ya'll just run off the only useful people in the group. Don't bother me none. I'm sick of your 'holier than thou' attitudes, anyway. You left my brother to die. You blamed Glenn for your mess and kicked him out."

"Now, wait a minute. We didn't kick Glenn out," Dale interjected.

"Bullshit! Ya might not have said the words, but the message was clear."

"Yeah, it was clear," Shane said. "I think it was perfectly clear. In case it wasn't though, I'll make it clear. He endangered us all. He brought the walkers here. Plus, if you weren't delayed in Atlanta getting his kidnapped ass back, you would have been here when they attacked. So, yeah, plain and simple, he is to blame for this and he isn't welcome here anymore. Looks like we're getting a two-for-one out of the deal," he said with a sneer.

"We didn't agree to any of this," Dale said.

"If ya didn't agree, ya sure as hell didn't do anything to stop it," Daryl said to Dale. Then he turned to the rest of the group. "Wish granted. We're leaving. Neither of us wants to be part of this group any more. Let's see how far you get without me to hunt and Glenn to scavenge. Bunch of selfish, lazy pricks."

They got in the truck and Daryl started it up. As they pullled out, Daryl turned to Glenn.

"First thing we're doing is getting rid of them damn pink tennis shoes," he said with a smirk, pointing toward Glenn's feet.

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_Reviews are awesome. I'd love to hear from you._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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_Author's Notes:_

_Thank you to Sufinkusu for the review and to all the others who have made this a Follow or Favorite. _

_I hope you enjoy this next chapter._

* * *

**FIRST NIGHT**

They knew they had to find shelter and supplies, but it was nearly dark when they left. It was too late for them to worry about that for now. They didn't want to drive at night because the headlights would make them too conspicuous. They decided to pull over into a patch of woods near the side of the road and sleep in the truck. Actually, Daryl decided. Glenn seemed kind of out of it. He was probably suffering from an adrenaline crash and shock from everything that happened in the past couple of hours. Was it really only a couple of hours? It seemed longer than that.

Daryl pulled two pillows and a sleeping bag from the back of the truck. He gave Glenn one of the pillows, kept one for himself and unzipped the sleeping bag making a blanket. The each propped against a door with the blanket tossed haphazardly over them. Daryl was not a heavy sleeper and he knew he would wake a couple of times during the night to make sure Glenn was ok.

It didn't take long for Glenn to have his first nightmare. Daryl managed to pull him out of it and he wasn't sure Glenn even woke up completely. Daryl put his pillow against the door behind him. He put the other pillow in his lap. He pulled Glenn down sideways so his head was on the pillow. He laid is hand over the side of Glenn's neck and they both drifted back to sleep. The next thing Daryl knew was that it was getting light out.

* * *

**SHOPPING**

Once they were both awake, they started to come up with a plan. Other than the bat, Glenn's only weapon was a shotgun and a few shells. The shotgun was noisy as fuck would have to be a last resort. Daryl didn't think the bat was nearly enough to do battle with walkers, especially if there were more than a couple of them. He needed something better.

"First thing," Daryl said, "we need to get you a better weapon…or two."

"I thought the first thing was going to be getting me new shoes," Glenn said with a smile.

"Well, smartass, with some luck we can do both," Daryl said. Glenn looked at him.

"Not to be a pessimist, but when have we ever had any _good_ luck?" Daryl cocked his head sideways. The kid was right. Good luck was not something they had much of lately.

"We're due," Daryl replied.

* * *

Daryl he pulled up to the Academy sporting goods store. Getting out of the truck, Glenn looked at Daryl.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure this place was picked clean early on. If not, it must have been looted since then. This is probably one of the first places that people came to."

"Maybe," Daryl said, "but I want to check something out. I used to come to one of these stores every once in a while for supplies for my crossbow. They ain't in the section with the guns and ammo so there might still be somethin'." Glenn shrugged his shoulders. Guess it wouldn't hurt to look.

Before they even got close to the hunting department, they could see that the entire gun section was emptied of everything. They passed it and went further into the store. They stopped in front of a drop door kind of like a garage door. Daryl knew it was what he was looking for because he was used to shopping there and all of the stores were set up the same.

They broke in and, sure enough, there were a couple of crossbows, regular archery bows, arrows, bolts and stuff for cleaning and lubing the crossbows. They grabbed a couple of crossbows and first thing they did was unbox them. It was much easier to carry them that way. They also took every arrow and bolt they could find and some of the stuff to make sure the crossbows kept working.

"Next thing is your shoes. We need to see if they have somethin' sturdier for you. Let's head over there and see if we can find you a pair of boots." As they were heading down one of the aisles, Daryl's eyes continued to scan around. In passing Daryl spotted a machete of all things that looked like it might have been tossed into the wrong section so it had been missed. He grabbed it on the way by. He already had a really good hunting knife so that would be Glenn's.

They got to the shoe section and located the boots. As soon as they got there, they heard walkers.

"Better make this quick," Glenn said. He grabbed a couple of different kinds in his size. "These will be fine, I'm sure." They saw a fairly large group of walkers headed their way. "Yep, these will be perfect. Best boots ever. Let's get the hell out of here."

They got back to the truck, tossed everything in and took off.

* * *

They decided to camp for night. They pulled up a steep hill figuring that the rough terrain might make it harder for walkers to get to them. Daryl did a quick recon of the area and managed to get a rabbit while he was out. They were able to have a small fire and cook the rabbit and Glenn was pretty sure it was the best thing he ever tasted.

They had just finished eating when they were startled by a loud explosion from the direction of the city. It was strong enough that it made the ground shake, even as far away as they were. They didn't realize it at the time, but that was the CDC imploding.

They ended up packing it in early. They were both exhausted. It had been a long day and they both needed to try to get some sleep. Daryl knew Glenn was really hurt by the group. Glenn was a caring, sensitive person and for them to do that to him was devastating for him. It wouldn't surprise him if Glenn had nightmares for a while. Daryl was not happy to be right. As soon as Daryl realized Glenn was having a nightmare, Daryl woke him up and told him it would be ok. He wasn't sure if it was the truth, but it seemed like the right thing to say at the time. Glenn simply moved closer to Daryl until he was laying next to him. Daryl didn't stop him. He discovered that he really didn't mind Glenn invading his personal space. Glenn inhaled and he could smell Daryl close to him. Daryl didn't smell bad. He smelled like something Glenn now associated with safety and he was able to drift back to sleep.

* * *

They were driving the next day when Glenn saw something that gave him an idea. He hit Daryl on the shoulder with the back of his hand to get his attention, told Daryl to pull over and indicated where. It was Office Depot.

"The hell? You runnin' out of printer paper?" Daryl asked sarcastically.

"Trust me?"

"With my life," Daryl said.

"Good. Let's go."

The door was still locked and the glass wasn't broken so the store might not be ransacked. It probably wasn't a place people would think to go to. He had Daryl pull around back. Glenn figured it might be easier to break in that way. They got in and did a quick sweep. The store looked untouched. It was probably closed when panic really started and everyone took off. They didn't see any walkers.

"Well?" Daryl asked Glenn.

Glenn walked Daryl to a section near the back of the store.

"Holy fuckin' hell, Short Round, you're a goddamn genius." Glenn looked at him.

"Breakroom section," he said smiling, "and don't call me that, Redneck." Daryl smiled back at him.

The aisle was packed floor to ceiling with food and drinks. There was water, soda, coffee and juice in the drink section. The food section held a ton of vending-machine type items like packages of cookies, crackers, nuts, trail mix and granola bars. There were cases of cereal cups, soup cups and tuna salad kits. And, holy hell, there was a specialty section with packages of cupcakes and brownies.

Glenn pointed and they walked one aisle over where they found first aid kits, bandages, pain relievers and, sweet Jesus, toilet paper!

It was the fucking motherload.

* * *

It took a while to go through everything and decide on the best stuff to take. Daryl turned to Glenn.

"Hey, take the tubes out of TP and squash it down. We can carry a lot more that way."

"How do you know this shit?" Glenn asked. Daryl looked at him and shrugged. "We might be able to carry more if we take some of this stuff out of the boxes. There's probably some wasted space or packing material inside the boxes. We probably shouldn't unbox the cracker and cookie packages, but it would definitely work for the first aid stuff and the trail mix and stuff like that."

"Good idea," Daryl said. "Let's get to work."

"I'll go grab a package of trash bags. Those will work well, plus it's added protection if this stuff is in the back of the truck and it rains. It should also keep animals from smelling the food when we camp."

They sorted out everything they wanted to take and put it all by the door ready to go to the truck. They decided the baked goods weren't practical to take a with them because they wouldn't last as long as the other stuff, but that didn't mean they couldn't get their fill while they were there. And, ok, so what if a few packages of cupcakes _did_ make it into the truck. I wouldn't be a big deal, right?

They stayed inside the Office Depot for the night. It would have been nice to have stayed longer, but it was just not defensible. The store was too big and there was no line of sight. They wouldn't be able to tell what was going on outside.

As usual, Glenn had a nightmare, but to Daryl it didn't seem like it was as bad as before. It was easier to wake him up and it was easier for him to go back to sleep. Maybe things were getting a little better.

The next morning, they had a baked goods breakfast. Nothing like a chocolate cupcake to get the day started right.

* * *

They started pulling all of the bags and boxes outside to the truck. Daryl went to back the truck closer to the door when he called for Glenn to come over.

"Help me get the motorcycle out of the back."

"Why?" Glenn asked.

"We need the room."

"But you love that bike."

"Yeah, I do, but we can't eat it and we need the space. Food and water's more important."

"I don't want you to regret it, and you know you will," Glenn said.

"Of course I'll regret it," Daryl said sadly. "But at least I'll be _alive_ to regret it." Glenn thought about it for a minute.

"I can't let you leave it behind. Let's figure it out." He thought for a minute. "Ok, you ride the motorcycle and I'll drive the truck. Best of both worlds. We have the space to carry more stuff and you keep the bike."

"Except we won't be together," Daryl said. "Makes me nervous."

"I'll follow you. I'll stay right behind you the whole time. We can always leave the bike later if we need to. We'll have more room in the bed of the truck and we'll also be able to fill part of the cab with more stuff. We make a good team. We'll keep each other safe. If something happens head back to me or I'll get up next to you and we'll take off in the truck."

"Are you sure there'll be room to save me with all those brownies and cupcakes in there?" Daryl said laughing.

"Hey, asshole, those are calorie-dense foods. They're good for energy. Don't make fun or I won't share with you."

* * *

**SURPRISE**

They spent a few days moving around and checking out the area. Daryl had started to teach Glenn how to use one of the new crossbows and they also got to hunt a little bit. Even with the stuff they got at Office Depot, they still need protein.

One afternoon, they came across a small house set off the road. Daryl signaled and they pulled off the road. They watched for a while and it looked abandoned. It was a small house so it wouldn't be particularly hard to clear and secure and it had a yard around it so they would be able to see anyone or anything approaching. This might be a good place for a couple of days.

They decided to take a closer look. Daryl was teaching Glenn some hand signals to use when they had to be quiet hunting. They were sort of a weird mix of military, sign language and, well, just Daryl. Daryl motioned to Glenn about what to do. He either wanted Glenn to: 1) move around to his right, cut across the yard and come in from the other side of the house or 2) steal third base. Glenn was pretty sure it was the first one.

He circled around and went in through the back when Daryl went in through the front. They went through the rooms and made sure they were clear. They both ended up in kitchen. They heard very quiet noise coming from behind a door. It could be stairs leading down to a basement. If that was the case, it could be anything from a rat to a walker.

Glenn covered Daryl as he grabbed the doorknob. It turned out to be a pantry. When Daryl opened the door, they were staring into the terrified face of Sophia Peletier. It took her about two seconds to process what she was seeing before she launched herself into Daryl's arms.

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_A/N: Reviews are awesome. _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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_Author's Notes:_

_The time periods in my story aren't always going to match up with what happened in the show. For example, this chapter takes place near the beginning of season 2 when Sophia went missing; however, in this story, it was more than just a day or two after the CDC when she was chased by the walkers and got lost. They were on the road at least a week, probably more like two or three weeks._

* * *

**FILLING IN THE BLANKS**

Daryl pulled Sophia close as he set down his crossbow.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's ok. We got ya. Yer safe." Glenn came over and started rubbing her back.

"Sophia, are you ok? Where is everyone else?" Glenn asked.

"I don't know. I got lost."

"When was that, Honey?" Glenn asked.

"A few of days ago," she said in between sobs.

Daryl and Glenn took her into the living room. Daryl sat down on the couch with Sophia and Glenn squatted down in front of them. They both tried to get her to calm down.

"How did you get lost?" Daryl asked.

"We were on the road and the walkers came. We all hid under the cars. I was by myself under one. I could see some of the others. Mom and Lori were together. My car was next to Carl's. I could see Rick under another one. Walkers found me. I ran and they chased me. Rick came after us. He found me and told me to hide in the creek. He said he would get the walkers to follow him and then I should run back to the others. When they followed him, I ran but there were more of them. I just kept running until I got away from them, but by then I didn't know which way to go."

She was talking so fast, sniffling and coughing in between some of the words, they almost couldn't keep. When she was done, she started coughing again.

"Hey, Sweetie, are you sick?" Daryl asked. She nodded. "Other than the cough, anything else?"

"My head hurts, too." Glenn felt her forehead.

"I think you might have a little fever. I've got something for that. I'll be right back." Glenn went out to the truck and got her some Tylenol and juice.

Daryl and Glenn unloaded some of their stuff in order to settle in for the night. They stayed in the house with the truck pulled up close. They had the door of the truck lined up with window on the side of house in case they need to get out fast. They would be able to basically climb out of the window of the house right through the open window of truck.

They settled in and ate some tuna salad packets. Sophia said it was the best thing she had in a long time. They still felt like they needed to get something warm into her so they made a small fire in the fireplace, just big enough to heat up some soup. While they ate, she told them about what happened after they left.

"Everyone was really mad at you," she said to Daryl. "They were all saying that you didn't need to leave with Glenn. You shouldn't have done it. They needed you there. They said some really mean things about both of you. When they finished cleaning up the camp, we found out that Jim got bit. Shane and Rick argued about where they needed to go. Rick wanted to go to the disease place to see if they could help Jim. Shane was really mad, but they decided to go there for help. The Moraleses didn't go with us. Then Jim was dying and he asked Shane to leave him on the side of the road, so he did."

"Shane just left him?" Glenn asked astonished. She nodded.

"What was the 'disease place?'" Daryl asked.

"I'm not sure what it was called," she replied. "It had letters."

"Was it the CDC?" Glenn asked.

"Yeah, that was it. There was a doctor there. He let us in but we had to give him some of our blood."

"Your mom let him do that?" Daryl asked. She nodded.

"Everyone had to. We stayed for the night. We got to have dinner and hot showers. And the next morning we got to have breakfast. It was so great! But then the alarms started. The doctor tried to keep us there. He said the building would blow up and it would be over for all of them. They wouldn't have to be scared any more. Rick and the others yelled at him. He finally let us leave, but Miss Jacqui stayed behind. We got to the cars and the whole building blew up."

Daryl and Glenn looked at each other. They both knew that was the noise that they heard a day or so after they left the group.

"After that, we moved around a lot. It seemed like forever. Then we didn't have any more food. The others tried to hunt, but they were really bad at it. We ran out of the other stuff that we had. They blamed you for everything, why we didn't have any food and stuff."

That really pissed Daryl off. They were the ones that ran Daryl and Glenn off. They had no right to lay the blame for their suffering on Glenn and him. He kept that to himself, though. It wasn't Sophia's fault she had been stuck with a bunch of idiots. But then she proved herself to be the smartest of the bunch with her next sentence. Sometimes you just can't hide things from kids.

"I tried to tell them that they were wrong, that they shouldn't say the bad things because they made you leave," she continued. "That just made them more mad. They were always yelling at each other. When Dale's camper broke down, we had to stop. We started looking in the cars, but we didn't find much. Then the walkers came."

"Did you know where you were or where you were going?" Glenn asked.

"I don't know. We were on a highway road with a lot of cars. They all look the same. It really didn't seem like we were going anywhere," she finished with a big yawn.

Once she had something to eat, Sophia could barely keep her eyes open. Before going to sleep they gave Sophia another dose of Tylenol for her fever and headache. They brought a mattress out from the bedroom. They felt better staying close together in one room. Glenn was curled up with Sophia. Since he was sleeping soundly and wasn't having any nightmares, Daryl didn't wake him for watch.

It was in the wee hours of the morning when Glenn woke and got up to relieve Daryl on watch. Sophia was upset at him moving away and whimpered while grabbing at him. Daryl was there right away and they both told her they wouldn't leave her.

Glenn told Daryl that he should have woken him up sooner to take watch. Daryl said that Glenn needed the sleep. He told Glenn that he was fine so there wasn't a need to wake him up.

Glenn took watch and Daryl curled up on the make-shift bed with Sophia. Glenn wondered how Daryl was so good with her. It didn't seem like something that would come naturally for him. Glenn watched as Daryl ran his fingers through her hair and her breathing evened out as she fell asleep. Glenn was concerned about the congestion he could hear even with her relaxed and sleeping. Daryl was asleep within minutes of her drifting off. Glenn laid another blanket over them and returned to the window to watch the yard.

* * *

**INVITATION**

Sophia was constantly attached to one or the other of them. She was completely terrified to be alone. It didn't help that she didn't feel well. That certainly added to her neediness. Daryl and Glenn understood exactly what was going on and they were calm, patient and caring.

A couple of days later, they were worried that Sophia was getting worse. They decided that she needed more than just the Tylenol. She needed medicine for the cough. They had to see what they could find for her. They went to investigate a small town they saw not far from the house.

"I'm going down there," Glenn said after they watched for a while.

"You can't go alone," Daryl replied.

"I went alone all the time. It's what I do. You know that. Plus we're not taking Sophia down there so you need to stay with her." Daryl knew Glenn was right and nodded.

"I'll watch you from here and back you up if ya need it." Daryl watched him from a vantage point on a nearby hill. He saw Glenn reach the town.

Glenn saw the horse by the pharmacy when he got there. Since he didn't know what he was walking into, he readied his weapon. That's when he heard a woman scream.

He went into the pharmacy. He saw her in the back being attacked by a walker through a shelving unit. He couldn't get a shot with the crossbow so he set it down and grabbed a section of shelving. He jumped on the counter and swung the shelf around hitting the walker and knocking it down. Then he finished it with the machete.

The woman was freaked out by both the walker and the stranger. She backed away from him in a panic. Glenn told her that he wasn't going to hurt her. He asked if she was alone and he understood when she was hesitant to answer him. She asked him if _he_ was alone.

He said that he was with a friend and a little girl. He told her that was why he was there. She was sick and he needed to get some medicine for her.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked.

"She has a bad cough, headache and fever. We've been giving her Tylenol, but she needs something more.

"How old is she?"

"Twelve," he replied.

The woman went to the shelf and pulled out a couple of bottles. "This one is for the cough," she said. "It will probably make her sleepy. This other one is amoxicillin. It is an antibiotic, good for bronchitis and stuff like that. Make sure she takes them all, even if she starts to feel better. Those should help and she will need fluids and a lot of rest."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, I was thinking about it in college, but all that went to hell. I took a couple of classes so you can trust what I am saying. I would never tell you something that would hurt a child, or anyone for that matter."

"I didn't think you would," he said. "I really appreciate your help."

"My name is Maggie Greene. My family has a farm not too far from here. We haven't had much of a problem with walkers so far. You're welcome to join us. It might be a good idea to hole up for a while. We have another group staying with us. They have a kid that got hurt and my dad was able to help him. Dad's not used to working on two-legged patients, but he's doing ok." Glenn looked at her questioningly.

"He's a veterinarian," she said.

"Ah, gotcha. Well, my name's Glenn. Thanks for the invitation, but we're doing ok for now. I'll check with my little zombie apocalypse family and see if they want to go, but we'll probably wait to see how it goes."

"Ok. Well, you are welcome any time." She gave him directions on how to get to the farm.

"Thanks for the medicine," he said.

"Thanks for saving me," she replied with a smile.

Daryl was relieved to see Glenn come out of the pharmacy. He was surprised to see a young woman, too. She looked pretty shaken up. He watched as they talked for a minute then she rode off on a horse and Glenn made his way back to Daryl and Sophia.

"Who was the girl?" Daryl asked.

"Her name's Maggie Greene. Her family has a farm near here. She was down to get some stuff from the pharmacy when a walker grabbed her. Luckily I got there just in time and took care of it. She was really helpful in getting me the medicine Sophia needs, so we should be ok. She invited us to stay at her family's farm. Said they have another group staying there already."

"Do you want to go?" Daryl asked him.

"Not really. I don't see any reason to. We're getting on fine. We have food, shelter and now we have the medicine that Sophia needs. More people just means more problems." Daryl nodded in agreement.

"I get it and I'm ok with not going," Daryl told him. Daryl knew that Glenn would have some serious trust issues because of what happened. Daryl also had his share of dealing assholes and he really wasn't keen on finding another group of them. They made a good team. They now also had Sophia to think about. Keeping her safe was their number one priority.

"She said we are welcome to come any time," Glenn added. "We can always go there later if we need to or want to."

"Works for me," Daryl said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

_A/N:_

_Sorry for the delay in getting another chapter out. Kind of got hung up on this chapter. I don't know why it was hard to write. Maybe it's because I have the next couple of chapters outlined in detail so I was getting ahead of myself. I also got sidetracked in the form of the __Rot & Ruin__ book series by Jonathan Maberry. It is _really_ good. I had a very hard time putting the books down, but now that I finished the series I'm ready to get back into this story._

_Thank you to everyone who has left a review and/or flagged as a Favorite and/or flagged as a Follow. I really appreciate it. You guys are awesome!_

_I hope you enjoy this chapter._

* * *

**SMILES**

Since they were going to try to stay at the house while Sophia continued to recover, they decided it was time to unload a few more supplies from the truck. They had dropped off a couple of bags and had gone out for another when they heard Sophia gasp and shout.

"Oh! My! God!" they heard her yell. They both ran back into the house weapons out to find her standing there staring into one of the bags. "Do you know what this is?!" she shrieked.

"Uh, yeah," Glenn said, not sure of where this was going.

"This is Kraft mac and cheese!" she squealed.

"I know," Glenn said laughing, finally getting what was going on.

"The hell?" Daryl asked. "Ya scared the shit outta me. Thought you was being attacked."

She continued to alternate looking in the bag and looking at them. Glenn and Daryl smiled watching how her face was lit up with joy. They would have to try to remember how much the little things were being missed. They would do anything in their power to make that look show up more often.

* * *

**SCARS**

As Sophia got her energy back, they started working with her a little bit on how to survive. They were basically running around playing tag, but it was actually showing her some ways to get away. She needed to learn how to watch her surroundings, move effectively and change directions quickly if needed. She had just managed to escape Glenn's reach when she slipped, sliding down on the ground and ending up on her back. Glenn went up to her to see if she scraped her back.

"Hey, did you get hurt?" he asked. "Let me take a look." He reached for the back of her shirt. She twisted around, pushed him and backed away telling him to go away. She looked completely freaked out. Glenn held his hands up palms forward to show her that he wasn't going to touch her. Daryl walked over to them.

"What happened? 'R ya hurt?" he asked.

"No," Sophia replied. "I'm fine."

"Sophia, Sweetie, you know we'd never hurt you, right?" Glenn asked her softly.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I just kind of panicked," she said.

"Can you tell us what's wrong?" Daryl asked. Sophia started to sniffle a little and her chin started to quiver.

"I don't want you to see," she said.

"See what?" Daryl asked. She looked away. "Nothing you could ever do or say will make us not love you."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Of course," Glenn said.

She turned around and lifted the bottom of her shirt to about midway up her back. It was easy to see the three thin white scars running across her back.

"Did your Dad do that?" Glenn asked.

"Yes…but I was being bad when he did it."

"There is nothing you could ever do to be worth that. It wasn't your fault," Glenn told her. She looked away again and they knew that she didn't believe what they were saying. Glenn and Daryl shared a look. Daryl turned around, unbuttoned his shirt and let it slide down showing her the scars on his back. She started to cry.

"Have you seen them?" she asked Glenn.

"Yeah, I have, Sweetheart," he said sadly.

She walked over and lightly touched them.

"Did it hurt?" she asked Daryl.

"Yeah, it did." he replied. "Did your's hurt?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yes," she whispered.

Daryl pulled his shirt back up and turned around. He pulled Sophia over to sit with him and wrapped an arm around her. Glenn sat on her other side and took her hand.

"It took me a really long time to understand that it wasn't my fault," Daryl began. "Sometimes I still forget that and I have to remind myself…or someone has to remind me," he said glancing at Glenn. "It wasn't my weakness that caused it and it wasn't my behavior that caused it. It wasn't about _me._ It was about what my daddy needed to do to feel like a man. Some men need to feel better about themselves by knocking someone else down. My daddy was like that and so was yours. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

She looks at him solemnly and nodded. They sat there and held her while she cried to the point of exhaustion. Daryl carried her sleeping form into the house and put her to bed.

* * *

**HELPING**

Daryl was sitting down and had just started butchering a rabbit when Sophia came over and sat down beside him. She looked at what he was doing and scrunched her face a little but watched intently.

"Do ya wanna learn how to do this?" he asked her. She nodded.

"I want to help you and Glenn as much as I can."

"Ya sure you don't want'a just learn how to cook it?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I need to know all of it."

"OK, sit here." He put her between his knees. Daryl filled her in what he had done so far and talked through the rest. Together they finished preparing the rabbit for cooking.

"So what'd you think?" Daryl asked her.

"It was kinda gross," she said scratching her nose. "I'm glad that I know, though. I guess I never really thought about it before. It kind of makes me sad for the rabbit, but I know it's just how it is. We need the food to survive. I am glad that there are rabbits and stuff out here."

"It isn't just animals, neither. There's lots of plants and stuff that we can eat and also use for medicine. Nature can provide a lot if you know how to find it."

"Show me," Sophia said. Daryl nodded.

* * *

**PLANS**

Daryl and Glenn were sitting in the kitchen when Sophia approached them.

"I know you have been teaching me how to get away and how to find food and stuff. I want you to teach me how to fight." Glenn looked at her and then at Daryl.

"Well, I think it's a good idea," Daryl said to her. "How about we get started after some lunch." She smiled and nodded.

"I have a lot to learn, too," Glenn added, "so you might as well teach us both." Daryl nodded.

While they ate, Daryl started to give Sophia some preliminary information.

"Now, when it comes to survival, there are a few basic things that we absolutely have to have. An easy way to remember them is to think in threes. We can last three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water and three weeks without food.

"Ok," Glenn interjected. "I get the air, water and food, but I don't understand why shelter is three hours."

"Well, it kind of depends on the environment. Like here, right now, it wouldn't be as important. If it was cold, you would need shelter pretty quick since it doesn't take long to get hypothermia or frostbite. If it was hot, you might need to protect yourself from the sun by making some shade. There's also bad weather to think about. You might not think a rainstorm is a big deal, but with lightning, it can be. Plus, it can rain for days. Being wet for days is just not a good idea. As a matter of fact, it really sucks."

"Got it," Glenn said.

"Me, too," Sophia added.

"Another thing to think about with shelter is camouflage. How to hide is a good thing to know. It's a good idea to be able to blend in with the environment." They both nodded. "Now, it used to be that in basic survival situations before Wildfire, defense didn't really play a part. If it was considered, it certainly wasn't on the top of list. I'm putting it near the top of the list. In order to worry about shelter, water and food, you need to be alive, so defense will come first. You'll see a lot of what we do every day with cleaning and cooking what we catch so not too worried about that right now. We've already started on that some and you'll pick up a lot of the food and water stuff as we go along."

"So what's the plan?" Glenn asked.

"Well, we'll start with defense which includes weapons and how to use them as well as some fighting skills. Then we'll move on to shelter building that will cover protection from the elements as well as camouflage from animals, walkers and people. We'll mix in fire starting, finding water, and snaring food as we go."

* * *

**WEAPONS**

"First thing we need to do is to find you a weapon or two," Daryl said to Sophia. "We'll need to teach you how to shoot, but that is a last resort because of the noise. We also need to make sure you have a knife. I found one under the seat of the truck that should do ok. I also want to find something else for you too. I'd like you to have something longer than the knife. The knife will be more for food and shelter building and stuff like that. It probably won't help ya much with the fighting part until you're bigger and stronger."

"The crossbow is just too heavy for you for now. Glenn has a baseball bat, but you need to have enough power to swing and hit really hard for it to work so that isn't a good choice. Plus, with ya being shorter, you'd have a really hard time getting a good angle. What you need to do is hit'em in softer spots. Go in under the chin or up under the back of skull. You can also kick their knees to snap them and make them fall to the ground. Then you have access to go through the eye, too.

"So, in order to hit the soft spots, you need something longer than a knife. I'd say it should probably be at least 2, maybe 3 feet long and less than an inch in diameter. We want it to have smooth sides and a very sharp point so it will be easy in and out. Wood probably wouldn't be so good. To have something light enough for you to handle, it would have to be fairly small in diameter. It would need a lot of thrust power with something lighter, plus the smaller diameter increases risk of breaking. We need to think of something light enough for you to use but heavy enough to do damage. I think it should be something metal that can be sharpened to a point. Now, a lot of things can be weapons. Let's looks around and see what we can find to use."

They all walked to the garage.

"Now, here's an example of improvising a weapon," Daryl said, pointing to a shovel hanging on the wall. The metal part can be sharpened and the handle can also be used. But, here we have the same problem as with the baseball bat. It's just too awkward for someone your size. We, however, will be modifying this and putting it in the back of the truck."

"What about this?" Sophia asked, holding up a hammer.

"Nah, not good. You'd have to be really on top of them and it would take a lot of hits to finish 'em. Plus the claw end would get stuck really easy."

"Wish we could find a crowbar," Glenn said.

"Yeah," Daryl replied. "That would probably be good. Don't see one in here though. Have ta keep a look out for one. Now, here's something we can use," he said holding up a long Phillips-head screwdriver. A little sharpening on the end and it's good to go."

"It seems kind of little," Glenn said worriedly looking over a Sophia.

"Yeah, but it'll get the job done. Hopefully she won't get close enough to one of them things to get a chance to test it."

"That'd be nice," Glenn said. "Unlikely, but it would be nice."

"What about the golf clubs?" Sophia asked, pointing to the corner of the garage. They all walk over to check them out.

"Not bad. We get the heads off and sharpen the shaft," Daryl said.

"We'll have to try them out some because golf clubs can be kind of flexible even though they don't look like it," Glenn interjected. "They also might be too light, but we should definitely try."

"Ok, let's head in and check the house." They started in the living room.

"Take a look around and tell me what you see," Daryl said.

"Fireplace tools," Glenn said lifting up the poker.

"Yes. Now, ya might think the poker is the best choice, but it isn't," Daryl said. "It does have a point, but the hook on it makes it almost impossible to use. You'd get one strike but this hook will probably catch and you'd never get it out. Now this," he said referring to the shovel, "is something we need to look at more closely. We can take the shovel part off and that will leave the handle. We can sharpen the end and that will make something usable. It's light enough to control, but heavy enough to penetrate. It won't break easily because it's metal. We'll add a little padding and something grippy to the handle to make it easier to hold and another grip a few inches up the shaft to allow a two-handed thrust."

They spent the next couple of days modifying their finds. They sharpened the items and added grips. The golf clubs ended up being pretty light once the heads were removed and they bent too easily on impact to be of any real use. The fireplace shovel ended up being a good choice. It was short enough and light enough for Sophia to control but long enough and heavy enough that she would be able to do some damage.

Then they needed to figure out a way for Sophia to carry the items. They looked through the closets and found and old leather jacket and belt. They took the small knife that Daryl found under the seat of the truck and attached the holder to the belt. They pulled elastic out of a couple of pairs of sweatpants and used them to fashion a holster for the screwdriver. They rigged one part that would hang from the belt and two more that tied around her thigh. The lower one had a small loop that was for the shaft of the screwdriver. The higher one had a larger loop on it to hold the handle of the screwdriver near the shaft. This allowed for it to be secure, but she had easy access to the handle to draw it out. It also wouldn't interfere with running, walking and sitting.

What they were calling her "sword" was a little harder to deal with. They started by cutting off the sleeves of the leather jacket. Glenn teased that it was something Daryl was really good at. They used one of the sleeves to create a pocket on the back that went from her right shoulder blade to her left hip. They used shoelaces to put ties in the front of the vest so that it could be pulled tighter on her.

"There you go. A original from the House of Dixon fashion line Warrior Chic," Glenn teased.

"Ha, ha," Daryl said with a 'you're so funny I forgot to laugh' face. He turned to Sophia. "Ya look good. How's it feel?"

"Kinda weird, but I'll get used to it. It's actually pretty comfortable."

"Ok, now that we got'cha outfitted, we need to talk about a couple of things," Daryl said. "You always need to have your head in the game. Keep your focus on the job at hand. You can be confident, but never be cocky. That'll get ya killed. All this stuff don't mean nothin' if you don't know how to use it. These ain't gonna protect you. You _use_ them to protect _yourself_. Remember, it don't need to be fancy to be effective. Understand?"

"Yes," Sophia replied. "I understand."

They worked for the rest of the day on her ability to access her weapons quickly and move around with them. Daryl started instructing both of them on some hand-to-hand fighting skills.

They still had a lot of work to do, but yes, Sophia was on her way to being a bad-ass.

* * *

**WHY**

All of the day's activities wore Sophia out and she was sleeping soundly.

"Why'd you do it?" Glenn asked Daryl

"Do what?" Daryl asked.

"Leave with me."

"It was the right thing to do."

"I know you said it was your chance to get away from the group, but was that really it? I kinda got the feeling there was more to it," Glenn said. Daryl took a breath and sighed.

"They act like they're better than us. I know what it's like to be treated like a second-class citizen. I had t'face that shit all my life. You didn't treat me like that. You's the only one there who treated me like a person. I needed that. I needed that even though I didn't know that I needed it. I know I didn't show it, 'specially when Merle's around, but it was true. You're a good person, plain and simple. Nobody deserves to be treated like shit, 'specially someone like you. Well, that fucker Ed did," Daryl said with a huff, "but definitely not you."

"I know you won't believe me if I say this, but you're a good person, too, Daryl." Daryl looked away. "You didn't think twice about taking care of that little girl, comforting her, protecting her. That says a lot about you. Yeah, you're a good person. Guess I'll have to remind you of that every once in a while."

* * *

**CHANGE OF PLANS**

They managed to scrounge up some clothes for Sophia by raiding a few of the other houses in the area. They were grateful that they managed to find some jeans that fit her pretty well. The jeans were better and more durable than the lighter weight pants that she had.

They were glad that they managed to get a few weeks at the house, but they started to see a some walkers and worried about being able to get out fast so they moved on. They stayed in the area but they had to move around a few times. They tried to stay in houses or other buildings when they could, but that wasn't always possible. When it wasn't they camped.

They continued to drill Sophia on defense, drawing her weapons, and fighting. She was getting better at it all the time. She was getting stronger every day.

They had stayed in a workshop shed at the back of someone's property for the night. The next morning they packed up the truck and Glenn and Sophia went back in to make sure they didn't miss anything when they heard Daryl yell.

"We got walkers!"

Glenn and Sophia came out and saw a group of walkers coming around the shed near the truck and moving toward Daryl. There were more coming out of the nearby woods. There was no way Glenn and Sophia could get through them to the truck.

"You remember where that girl said her farm was?" Daryl asked Glenn as he moved away from the truck.

"Yeah."

"I'll draw 'em off. Meet ya there."

"Daryl, no!" Glenn yelled. "We need to stay together."

"Ya need to get Sophia outta here," Daryl shouted. Glenn knew they wouldn't get to the truck any other way.

"Ok, we'll meet you there. Don't get dead!" Glenn yelled.

Daryl started to call out and wave his arms to get the attention of the walkers. They turned and started to follow him. Glenn killed a couple close to him and Sophia. Sophia took a breath and side kicked the knee of one that was getting too close to her. Once it was down, she used her sword to finish him off. Then Sophia's training paid off big-time. When Glenn was taking down a walker, another hit him from behind and knocked him down. Sophia didn't hesitate for even a second. She stabbed the walker up under the back of its skull. Glenn pushed it off of him and got up.

"Thanks," Glenn said panting. "Good job, Kiddo."

They made it to the truck just in time to see Daryl disappear into the woods. Glenn pushed Sophia into the truck. Daryl took a quick glance back and saw Glenn and Sophia get into the truck. As Daryl moved out of sight, the last thing he heard was Sophia screaming for him.

* * *

_A/N: _

_Uh-oh. The farm. That can't be good, right? More to come soon._

_As always, I would love to hear from you._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

_A/N: _

_Time is moving slower in my story than it was in the show. On the show, it looks like from the time they arrived at the farm until the walker herd overruns the farm is only around 15 days and Sophia was only missing for a few days before she came out of the barn. I got that timeframe from the internet (apparently researched down to the day by someone way more obsessed with this show than I am). That's way too short of a time for Carl to have the surgery, recover, and wander around the farm doing whatever he wants to do (while Lori searches for him…"Where's Carl? Has anyone seen Carl?") For the purpose of my story, they are on the farm a _lot_ longer than 2 weeks._

_At this point in the story, Sophia has been with Glenn and Daryl for probably around 3 months. _

_Reminder: There is a lot of swearing in the zombie apocalypse. _

* * *

**ACCUSATIONS**

Daryl, bloody and dirt-covered, stumbled out of the woods onto the edge of a field. He could see a farmhouse in the distance and aimed toward it. As he worked his way across the pasture, he could hear someone shouting, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. Then two people ran up to him and he, unfortunately, recognized them immediately.

"Is that Daryl Dixon?" Rick asked.

"I got this," Shane said as he raised his gun.

"Fuck you, asshole. You shoot me, you best pray I'm dead," Daryl snarled at Shane. "You won't get a second fucking chance."

"Lower your gun, Shane," Rick said.

"Fucking hell, could this day get any worse?" Daryl grumbled.

Then the gunshot rang out and Daryl went down.

By the time Dale and Andrea made it over to them, Rick already had Daryl up and was supporting him. Dale grabbed under his other arm and pulled it across his shoulders. Together, he and Rick started to move toward the house. Shane was behind them and stopped to pick something up off the ground.

"Hey, isn't this Sophia's doll?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's her doll," Andrea said.

"Stop! That bastard had Sophia. Who knows what he might have done. He may have killed her. Look at him. He's filthy and bleeding. Do you even know where the blood is coming from? He's probably bit. We need to take him out before he hurts anybody." Dale looked at him in shock.

"You aren't going to put him down like a dog," Dale said. "You don't have any idea what's going on."

"Yeah," Andrea said. "Neither do you. You want to take that chance? Then go ahead."

Rick and Dale continued to drag Daryl toward the house. By then Hershel, his family and the rest of the group had gathered in front of the house.

"What happened?" Hershel asked as he started walking with them. "Is he bit?"

"We aren't sure," Dale told him honestly. "He's bleeding from his head because Andrea _shot_ him. He's bleeding from his side, too, but I don't know why yet."

"Well, get him into the first bedroom." They did as Hershel said and laid Daryl on the bed as gently as they could. Daryl gave a long, soft groan.

"Glenn here?" he asked in a whispered mumbled.

"No, Daryl, he isn't. What happened?" Rick asked. Daryl mumbled something that Rick couldn't understand and went out again.

"I need everyone out," Hershel told the group. "Patricia, will you help me get a look at him? Then we'll pull together what we need to treat him." She nodded and stepped closer.

"I ain't leaving you alone with him. He's dangerous," Shane said. "He had the doll of a little girl who went missing from our group. For all we know, he did something to her. You ain't safe to be alone with him."

"He had Sophia's doll?" Carol whined and broke out in tears. "Where is she? Oh, my God, my _baby_! He had my little girl?" Dale put his arm around her shoulders.

"We don't know anything, yet," Dale told Carol.

"While I'm not sure I agree with Shane's assessment, we don't know if he was bit or not, so I don't think we should leave yet." Shane stepped out and returned a minute later with some rope. He proceeded to tie Daryl up.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked Shane.

"I'm restraining him. What's it look like I'm doing?" he snarled.

"I don't think that's necessary," Rick replied. "He's unconscious. We're standing right here."

"Don't matter," Shane said.

"Fine," Hershel said. "Shane and Rick can stay, but everyone else needs to go. You," he said to Shane, "stay back and allow me to work." Dale led Carol out into the living room. The others went out to the front porch to wait.

Hershel and Patricia worked on Daryl and managed to clean up and treat all of his wounds even with him bound. They were relieved to see that he had not been bit. Hershel wasn't particularly happy about his patient being tied up. He didn't like Shane much and wasn't sure if Shane could be trusted, but he didn't know Daryl at all, so he allowed the restraints.

Daryl started to stir and Rick called out for Hershel.

"Glenn…Sophia…" Daryl mumbled.

"No, Daryl, it's Rick Grimes. They aren't here."

"You need to tell us where they are," Shane growled at Daryl shaking him.

"Back off, Shane," Rick said pulling Shane away from Daryl. "Hurting him worse isn't going to help anything."

Daryl pulled against the ties and continued to mumble incoherently before passing out again.

"How is he?" Rick asked Hershel.

"Well, he's unconscious again. That could be the blood loss or the concussion, or a combination of the two."

"Is there anything we should do? Should we try to get him cleaned up?" Rick asked.

"His wounds are clean. The rest can wait. Let him rest for now."

Shane continued to glare around the room. All he needed was a couple of minutes alone and he would have all the answers he needed.

* * *

**REUNION**

The roads took longer around than Glenn originally thought they would. It was a much greater distance than "as the crow flies" but Glenn and Sophia finally arrived. Several people saw the truck pull up and started walking toward it.

"Fucking hell," Glenn muttered when he saw who was there.

"Mom's here!" Sophia yelled.

They got out of the truck and Carol ran up and grabbed Sophia.

"Oh, my God, Sophia! Are you alright? Where have you been?" she asked.

"Mom, I'm fine. Daryl and Glenn found me. They saved me from the walkers and they took care of me." Then Carol turned on Glenn.

"She's been gone for months," she said harshly. "You should have looked for us. You should have done something." Glenn glared at her.

"We _did_ do something," Glenn growled. "We took care of her. We fed her. We protected her. It's not like we kept her from you. And we were a little _busy_ not getting _dead_ and all."

"Mom, calm down. It's ok. Think about it. There was no way for us to know where you were."

"Is Daryl here?" Glenn asked the group.

"Oh, yeah, he's here alright," Lori told him. Glenn wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Well, where is he?" Sophia asked. Rick turned to her.

"Sophia," Rick said, "are you sure you're all right. They didn't do anything bad?"

"Who? The walkers?" she asked.

"No, Honey, not the walkers. Glenn and Daryl." Sophia looked at him confused.

"No, of course they didn't do anything bad. Glenn and Daryl aren't bad. They found me and they took good care of me. I was sick and they got me medicine. We had food and they got me some clothes. They love me."

"Sophia, are you _sure_?" Carol asked her. "You're safe now. You don't need to be scared. You can tell us."

"Scared?"

"Of _them_, Glenn and Daryl," Carol said.

"I'm not scared of them. I _love_ them."

"Where. the. hell. is. Daryl?" Glenn asked, enunciating each word like its own sentence.

"He's in the house being treated," Rick said.

"Treated? For _what_?" Glenn asked.

"He got hurt getting here," Rick said.

"What do you mean 'hurt'?" Sophia asked.

"Let's head over to the house," Rick said. "Then we'll fill you in on what we know." Sophia started to follow too. Carol grabbed her arm and told her that she wasn't going.

"Yes, I am," she said, pulling her arm from her mother's grasp. Glenn bent down to look into her face.

"Let me go check on him first," Glenn told her. "I'll come out and let you know what's going on, ok?" She nodded and he kissed her cheek. Glenn turned and followed Rick into the house. They met up with Hershel and Rick introduced them.

"Glenn, this is Hershel Greene. This is his farm. He's taking care of Daryl. Hershel, this is Glenn, Daryl's friend."

"Nice to meet you, Glenn. I wish it were under better circumstances, but to tell you the truth, it could have been under much _worse_ circumstances just as easily." Glenn nodded.

"Glad to meet you," Glenn said. "Thanks for helping Daryl." Hershel nodded.

"You're welcome. Now, let me tell you what's going on. He has stab wounds front and back on his left side. My guess is that he was impaled by something."

"Your guess? Didn't he say what happened?" Glenn asked.

"So far, he hasn't been lucid enough to ask. He's been unconscious most of the time he's been here. He woke twice, for just a minute, but he wasn't coherent. There's more. He has bruises and abrasions over his whole body, plus there's the gunshot wound to his head."

"He was _shot_?!" Glenn yelled.

"It was an accident," Rick said. "Andrea shot him. She said she thought he was a walker."

"Missed doing any real damage. She needs to work on her aim," Shane said.

"Yeah, I'm sure that all it was…just an accident…riiiiight," Glenn said acerbically. Shane shrugged. "You're probably more pissed at her for missing than anything else." Shane shrugged again. Glenn looked like he was about to jump at Shane when then they all heard Daryl call out from the next room. When they walked in, Daryl was struggling against the restraints holding his hands. Patricia was trying to calm him down.

"Stop, Daryl," Hershel said. "You're going to hurt yourself further. You don't want to pull those stitches out."

"Why the hell is he tied up?" Glenn questioned.

"He's done something to Sophia," Shane sneered.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Daryl asked.

"The dirty redneck has done something to her," Shane said to the group. "He showed up here all messed up. He had her doll with him, all covered in mud. This trash has done something to her. I'm sure of it."

"Redneck, hillbilly, trash…doesn't matter what slur you use," Glenn said. "It doesn't make him a fucking pedophile. He isn't like that. You're a fucking idiot. Sophia is outside with Carol right now, _safe_ and _sound_."

"So you say," Shane said. "You were with them. Maybe you're in on it."

"In on _what_? You've lost your goddamn mind," Glenn told Shane.

"I will not have that kind of talk in my house," Hershel shouted. "Now, everyone needs to calm down."

"Untie me now," Daryl demanded.

"No," Shane said. Glenn lunged toward Shane but Rick held him back.

"You have no right to do this," Glenn told him.

Maggie, returning from a supply run, rode up on her horse and stopped off at the house when she saw that something was going on. She passed the group gathered in front of the house and walked in. She heard the scuffle in the bedroom. She pushed her way through. There she saw Daryl bandaged and tied to the bed and Rick holding Glenn back. Maggie recognized Glenn from the pharmacy. She guessed the man in the bed was his friend.

"Glenn? What the heck is going on here?" she asked him.

"Maggie, thank God you're here. I wasn't sure if we were even in the right place. Maybe you can talk some sense into these people."

"When did you get here? Is the little girl with you? Is she ok?" Maggie asked.

"She's fine," he told her. "We had a problem with some walkers. Sophia and I were separated from Daryl. We remembered where you said the farm was and we said we would meet here. Daryl lured the walkers away so Sophia and I could get to the truck. Daryl got here first. When Sophia and I got here, I found him beat to hell, shot and tied to the bed." Maggie looked around at the group.

"Have you all gone crazy?" she asked. "Untie him right now."

"Are you sure?" Hershel asked her.

"Yes, of course I'm sure. I told Glenn about the farm. I _invited_ them here." Hershel told Maggie what Shane was saying. She turned to Shane.

"I don't believe that for a second. He helped me at the pharmacy. _He saved my life_!"

"_He's_ the one who rescued you?" Shane asked skeptically.

"Yes," she said. "He could have let the walker have me, but he didn't. He risked his life to save me. Who knows what could have happened if he hadn't been there. I could be dead…or one of those _things_. He was there because he was looking for medicine for the girl. He cared about her. He cared about _me_ and he didn't even _know_ me."

"You never met Daryl, though, have you?" Shane asked. "You don't know what he could do."

"I don't think _you_ know them." She turned to Rick. "You were both cops. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? You're all acting like he's guilty of something and needs to prove his innocence. Ok, then, let's talk about that. If that's the case, why don't you ask the girl?"

"We did," Rick said. "She said nothing bad happened except walkers and they saved her from them. They helped her when she was sick. They took care of her." Maggie looked over to Hershel.

"Daddy?"

"My daughter is a good judge of character. She has shown that in the past. I have no reason to doubt her now. My farm, my call. Untie him." Shane looked really pissed off. Rick still looked unsure, but he untied Daryl.

"I'll be right back," Glenn told Daryl.

Glenn walked outside. Sophia was waiting on the porch steps. When she saw Glenn, she jumped up and hugged him. When she let go, he kneeled down to tell her what was going on.

"He's going to be fine. He hurt his side pretty bad and has a cut on his head. He has a lot of bruises and stuff, too."

"I heard the others say he got shot," she told him.

"He did, but it barely hit him. It only grazed him. It left a cut on his head. An arrow went through his side but it missed all the important stuff. It really hurts a lot and we need to make sure it stays clean, but it will heal up. The walkers didn't get him, Sweetheart. He's going to be just fine."

"I want to see him," she said.

"Well, he's pretty tired and kind of dirty, so I'm going to help him for a little while. I'll get him cleaned up and give him some medicine, then you can come and see him, ok?" She nodded.

"I'll be back later," she said emphatically. Glenn nodded and smiled.

"Well, maybe now I can get Sophia to come to camp with me, where she belongs," Carol said. Carol grabbed Sophia's hand and led a reluctant Sophia over to where the tents were.

* * *

**JOURNEY**

Glenn helped finish cleaning Daryl up, got him settled in the bed and sat down next to him.

"You would have been so proud of Sophia," Glenn told him. "She kept it together and took down a walker, just like you taught her. Hit it in the knees and finished it on the ground. Then a walker hit me from behind and she was on him so fast I barely saw her move. She saved me. If she hadn't been there…"

"Hey, but she was. You saved each other."

"And you saved us both. What happened out there?"

"Once I saw you get in the truck with Sophia, I took off. I got out in front of the walkers and managed to shake them once I got far enough away from them. I crossed over a creek and spotted a doll in the creek bed. It looked a lot like the doll that Sophia and that other little girl always played with. Though she might like it, that we could clean it up for her." Glenn nodded.

"I was walking along the ridge and there was a rattlesnake. It struck at me and I got too close to the edge. The ground gave way and I went down into the ravine. At some point on the way down I ended up with arrow in my side. I managed to get to the bank when I heard walkers coming and I realized I didn't have my bow."

"Holy shit, Daryl!" Glenn interrupted.

"It ended up in the water but I found it in time. I tried to climb back up to the top, but I ended up falling back down. A couple more walkers came after me but I was able to kill 'em. Had to pull the arrow out 'cause it was the only one I had. _That_ fuckin' hurt like a bitch."

"Yeah, I'll bet it did," he said with a grimace.

"Anyway, after I puked up breakfast, I tried for the ridge again. That time I did manage to get to the top. Started walking. By the time I saw a farmhouse, I was dragging the bow. Didn't have nothin' left. Couldn't even lift it by then. Could barely walk. Rick and Shane met me in the field. Shane was gonna shoot me. Basically told Shane to go fuck himself. Rick made him lower his gun. Then things got fuzzy. Don't remember much after that 'til I woke up and heard ya in the other room."

"Well, that part where it got fuzzy…that's when Andrea shot you," Glenn said.

"The fuck?! That bitch shot me? What the hell?"

"Rick said it was an accident. She said she thought you were a walker. I'm not sure if I believe it. She was pretty far away though. Shane was pretty pissed she wasn't a better shot. I think he has her out now giving her lessons."

"Shane…he's lost his goddamn mind and that makes him _very_ dangerous."

"I know," Glenn replied.

* * *

**ASSESSMENT**

Sophia knocked softly on the door.

Daryl was cleaned up so he hopefully wouldn't scare her. He had bandages over the worst of the wounds, but they couldn't really do anything to hide the bruises and scrapes. They pulled the heavy quilt up over his chest and called for her to come in.

Daryl was lying in the bed with Glenn sitting next to him. She came in the room. She untied and slipped off her vest and laid it over the seat of the nearby chair.

"Which side got hurt?" Sophia asked as she slipped her boots off.

"This side," Daryl said pointing toward his left ribs.

She crawled up on the bed on Daryl's right side, sat on her knees next to Daryl and looked him over carefully. She inspected the bandage on his head and all of the bruises and scrapes that she could see.

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" she asked him.

"Absolutely positive," he replied. She looked over to Glenn for confirmation.

"Yes, he's going to be just fine," he said with a smile.

"Good," she said. She laid down next to him and curled into his good side. Glenn stretched out next to her and the three fell asleep.

* * *

**LOSS**

Carol walked into the large farmhouse and was met in the living room by Maggie.

"Sophia's up here, isn't she." Carol said.

"Knock, knock, knock…oh, hello, Carol, please come in…" Maggie said sarcastically.

"I asked if you have seen Sophia."

"No, actually you didn't, but I'll tell you anyway. Yes, I have seen her. She's in the other room with Glenn and Daryl."

"I told her to stay away," Carol growled.

"It's not a big deal. You don't have to worry about Daryl or Glenn."

"You need to mind your own business," Carol snapped at Maggie.

"Fine." Maggie walked Carol through the open bedroom door and swept her arm over to the bed to show her that Sophia was sleeping.

"Sophia! Get off that bed and back to the tent, _now_." Sophia jerked awake, startled by her mother's anger.

"What's wrong, Mama?" she asked with a yawn.

"You shouldn't be in here," Carol told her.

"I wanted to make sure Daryl was ok," she said wide-eyed.

"It's ok. I'm fine, Honey," Daryl said. "Go with your Mom."

"Ok," she said dropping a kiss on Daryl's cheek. She also gave Glenn a kiss on the cheek as she got off the bed. "I'll see you later, ok?"

"I'd like that. You know where to find me," Daryl said smiling. Sophia slipped her feet into her shoes, picked up her vest and headed out the door with her mother.

"You need to stay with me," Carol admonished as she pulled Sophia from the room. "Leave them alone. I don't want you up here again."

Daryl and Glenn exchanged a sad look. Now that Sophia was back with Carol, they were pretty sure that Carol would do everything she could to keep Sophia away from them. After only three months, they weren't sure that they would be able to handle not having Sophia in their lives.

* * *

_A/N:_

_There's nothing like two strong men showing up to threaten Shane's alpha-male status. _

_As always, I'd love to hear from you._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_**Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. All are greatly appreciated.**_

_Sorry this one took a while. If it's any consolation, it is the longest chapter so far._

_Reminder: There is swearing in the zombie apocalypse. _

_As always, Daryl and Glenn are awesome. _

_Just some insight into the group dynamic at this point: _

_Daryl and Glenn leaving the group had impact in many ways. As you know, the fact that they found Sophia and she is alive is the major one revealed so far, but there are others. Some will be revealed when Glenn and Daryl get to hear what happened to the group since they parted ways._

_One thing you may have already spotted is that without having Daryl to back his play, Rick didn't take charge of the group. Shane still is "leading" (overseeing, controlling) the group. _

_Something you will see more of in this chapter is that there are certain members of the group who stand out as being more antagonistic than the others, specifically Lori and Shane. Lori is a bitch and Shane is a dick. OK, so Daryl and Glenn not being there didn't change that part (LOL)._

_In the show, Carol became a stronger, more independent person due in large part to Daryl's support after losing Sophia. With him not being there, she never had this development. Carol was very flawed in Seasons 1 and 2 and she never made it past that without Daryl. For the Carol fans, I am not Carol-bashing. This is just a different Carol. It is another result of Daryl and Glenn not being with the group._

_**Thanks for getting through all those notes. I was starting to think the notes were going to be longer that the actual chapter. **_

_Now, on with the story…_

* * *

**SETTLING IN**

Daryl ended up spending two nights in the house. Glenn stayed with him as there was no way in hell he was leaving an injured and unarmed Daryl alone. Hershel didn't want them to leave so soon after Daryl was injured so they compromised and said they would set up a camp up the hill away from the others. That way Hershel could monitor Daryl's progress, yet they didn't have to interact with the others any more than absolutely necessary.

Glenn helped Daryl into the truck and drove it up to where they would be setting up. Just as Glenn finished unloading the gear, Sophia appeared. She immediately started laying out what they needed to put the tent up and got started. Glenn aided her and they had the tent up in a matter of minutes.

Sophia was moving some stones around to make a fire pit next to the old remains of a chimney. Daryl got up to help but Sophia was having none of that.

"You sit your butt down, Mister, or there's gonna be hell to pay," she told him. Daryl grimaced.

"Don't let your mama hear ya talkin' that way. That'll be another reason for her to get on'ta me."

"Why doesn't she like you?" Sophia asked. "I don't understand what her problem is."

"She just wants what's best for you," Glenn started. "She doesn't think that includes us."

"But you and Daryl _are_ what's best for me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Why doesn't she see that?"

"Well, I think she might be upset that you got lost and she couldn't find ya, for one thing. I don't think she's as mad at us for findin' ya as she is at herself for _not_ findin' ya. That make any sense?" Daryl asked her. She nodded.

"For another thing, your mom's had a tough life," Glenn said. "Sometimes it's hard to let go of things."

"I know how tough her life was. I was there. It was my life, too. It would still be my life if this whole walker stuff hadn't happened. Is it wrong to actually be glad that it happened, not about everything, but about that part?"

"We know ya were there, too. We ain't trying to make excuses for her," Daryl said.

"And, yes, it's ok to be happy to be away from your dad, even if that meant walkers," Glenn said smiling. Sophia smiled back.

They had the camp set up done in no time. They all made a great team.

* * *

**T-DOG'S STORY**

That afternoon, after Glenn and Daryl had settled into their camp, Glenn passed by Rick and asked him where T-dog was, why he wasn't with the group. Shane, nearby of course, told Rick not to tell Glenn. Shane said that it wasn't any of their business. Surprisingly, Rick disagreed with Shane and told him so. He told Shane that he didn't see the harm in telling Daryl and Glenn what happened. Rick followed Glenn back up to their camp and filled them in.

Rick asked Glenn and Daryl how much they already knew. Daryl told Rick that Sophia told them about going to the CDC and it exploding. Sophia told them there were walkers on the highway, that they all hid under the cars and the walkers found her and she ran. She told them how Rick tried to help her but she met more walkers on her way back. She had no choice but to run. By the time she lost them, she didn't know where she was or how to get back.

Rick filled them in on what he knew.

"The RV broke down on the highway. We needed to search for a radiator hose for it. Shane went to search for that and T-dog went down the road to siphon gas from the cars.

"When the herd came, everyone was warned to get under the cars. They found Sophia and she ran from the walkers. I followed her. When I caught up to her two walkers were very close. I put her in a hiding place in the creek and told her to run back to camp once I got the walkers away. When I got back to camp, I found out she wasn't there. No one knew what happened. She never came back to camp. Carol was yelling at me for leaving her. I tried to explain that I had to hide her. The walkers were too close. I had to draw them off. I told her that we would go back out and find her.

"I looked at the people grouped around. Andrea was covered in blood. I asked if she was alright. She just stood there. Dale told me that he was on top of the RV and Andrea was inside. A walker got in. Through the vent in the roof, he managed to drop a screwdriver to her and she was able to kill the walker. Dale told me that she was a little bit in shock, but she'd be ok.

"I was going to take T-dog back out with me to look for Sophia. When I looked around, I didn't see him anywhere. I asked where he was. Most of them just looked at the ground. Lori told me that T-dog didn't make it. When the herd came though, Shane got under a truck. I didn't see T-dog so I figured he was under a car. Shane said that he saw T-dog cut his arm. It was bad. It was spurting blood so that meant he cut an artery. The walkers were almost there. There wasn't any way Shane could get to him. T-dog didn't scream so we think he probably passed out from blood loss before the walkers got to him."

"I guess that it's good that he was unconscious, right? Not that any of it's good, but at least he didn't suffer," Glenn said. Daryl nodded.

"What did you call them? A herd?" Daryl asked.

"That's what seemed to apply the best. It was a large group all moving together."

"Great," Glenn said. "Now they're ganging up on us. Super."

"So, we know you ended up here 'cause Carl got shot? How'd that happen?" Daryl asked.

"We were looking for Sophia – Shane, Carl and I. We saw a deer and it didn't seem to be afraid of us. Carl was approaching it when we heard the shot. Otis, he worked for and was a friend of the Greenes, had shot the deer. The round went through the deer and hit Carl. Otis told us to get him to Hershel. He would be able to help. We ran here. Hershel checked Carl. Hershel said that Carl needed surgery to save his life. He needed medical stuff and thought it might be in the FEMA trailer set up at the high school. Shane and Otis went. It was really brave of both of them. Shane took his pistol and Otis had his shotgun. They got there and there were a lot of walkers. They distracted them enough to get into the trailer, but getting out was harder. They were trying to outrun a large group. Otis said he'd cover Shane and he was overrun. It was really close…too close. Shane managed to get back here without a single round left for either gun. It was a shame to lose Otis but they got the stuff needed to save Carl."

"It's a good thing Shane got back in time," Glenn said. Rick nodded. Daryl just tilted his head a little bit in thought.

When Rick finished the story, he said goodnight and went back to his own camp.

* * *

**HEADSTRONG**

The next morning, as Glenn and Daryl approached the house, they could hear Sophia and Carol arguing.

"You don't need to have all of these _things_," Carol said, referring to Sophia's weapons.

"Yes, I do," she replied. "I'm keeping them with me. Do you even remember what it's like out there?" She sees Daryl and Glenn and calls them over. "My mom doesn't want to let me wear my gear. I tried to tell her that it's important, but she isn't listening."

"She is a _child_. It's your fault she's like this," Carol told them. Glenn paused for a few seconds to consider what she said.

"You're right that it is our fault, at least in part," Glenn stated. "She's brave and strong and we can only hope that part of that is because we helped give her the confidence and skills to be that way. She is good with that stuff. She saved my life when a walker knocked me to the ground from behind. Sophia was on him lightning fast and _she_ save _me._" Carol glared at Glenn and turned to Daryl.

"What about you? Any parenting advice you would like to impart from your vast wealth of knowledge?" Daryl grimaced and his breath hitched for just a second. Glenn got a questioning look on his face. 'Need to file that away for further consideration,' Glenn thought.

"Well," Daryl said, "if you're asking for my opinion, you might want to know ahead of time that you aren't gonna like it."

"Haven't liked anything about you so far. Why start now?"

"OK, here goes. She ain't a baby. She's strong and capable. She can handle herself well. She's good with those weapons. She respects 'em. She ain't careless with'em. She needs to be able to take care of herself. We all do."

"She shouldn't _have_ to," Carol snapped. "She is only 13 years old."

"I agree. You're right _if_ we were talking about _before._ But _now_, she needs those skills and she has'em. She can protect herself. But, you're her mother. It's your call."

"It's _not_ her call," Sophia said. "It's _mine_. I need them with me. If I don't have them, I'm vulnerable…weaker. I have a fighting chance with these." She turned to Carol. "Other than Daryl and Glenn and me, no one else seems to be able to protect me. Let me ask you one thing, Mom. Could you protect me if it came down to it? It think we both know the answer to that. You couldn't even protect me from Dad." Carol slapped Sophia across the cheek. Sophia's face hardened.

"Did you learn that from 'Ed'?" she asked, refusing to refer to him as her father. She turned and walked away. Carol turned on Glenn and Daryl.

"I can't believe you made me do that," she accused.

"The hell we did!" Daryl told her.

"She's insolent, disobedient and belligerent because of you."

"Maybe," Glenn said, "but she's also alive because of us."

* * *

**THANK YOU**

Hershel approached Glenn and asked Glenn to take a walk with him.

"I know it isn't just walkers who could have found Maggie," Hershel began. "Do you know about Randall and his group?"

"No, I don't," Glenn replied.

"It began with the barn," Hershel said. "There were walkers in the barn. We kept them there. I kept them there. They were family and friends. My wife and son were in there. I thought it was a sickness…a plague. I held out hope. I thought there would be a cure. My family and I had been quite sheltered from what was going on in the world. We didn't understand the sheer numbers and power of the dead. We only saw it on television and in the few family members and neighbors that were affected. We had not told the group staying on the farm. Only my people knew they were there…until they got out.

"Before anyone realized what had happened, Beth and Jimmy were attacked. The others heard their screams. That was when they found out about the barn. Shane and a few others managed to contain the threat and take them all down.

"The infected were shot over and over, yet they still kept coming. I was fooling myself and my family. I made a huge mistake and two young people paid for it with their lives. My Bethie was gone and it was my fault. She was my baby girl, barely seventeen.

"I blamed myself. I left the farm and went into town. My only goal was to get as drunk as possible. I broke all of the promises that I made to my family about never drinking again, but I felt all the hope leave me. I just needed to get away from it. When Rick figured it out, he came after me. Rick found me in the bar doing my best to see the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. Just as Rick convinced me that we needed to get back, the door opened.

"Their names were Dave and Tony. And they were armed. Rick was very suspicious. They said that they were from Philadelphia and went to Ft. Benning. They found it overrun. Dave was doing his best to try to get Rick and me to reveal where we were living. He asked if they we had food and water. He continued to try to manipulate Rick. He said that they had people back at their camp and that he couldn't see why we couldn't make room for a few more. I told him that it simply was not an option. Dave continued to push. Rick and I both continued to say no. Rick knew where this was headed. Dave finally drew on Rick and Rick shot him. Rick then turned and shot Tony, adding a second round to his head just to make sure. It happened very fast.

"A few of Dave and Tony's group arrived at the town looking for them. They unfortunately cornered Rick and me in the bar. Rick tried to explain that Dave and Tony drew on us. Rick tried to convince them to call it done…wrong place, wrong time…when the men opened fire on us. We managed to make it to the back door to the alley. We saw one of the injured attackers had attracted the attention of a few walkers. With the walkers occupied, we were trying to see if we could make it to the car.

"The other group started yelling that a lot of walkers were coming and abandoned their vendetta against us. They took off leaving one of their injured behind. He was begging us to help him. He was practically a kid. We decide to take him with us rather than shoot him or leave him for the walkers.

"We made it to the car and headed back to the farm. We blindfolded Randall so he wouldn't know where they were going. When we got there, we explained what happened. Neither Shane nor Andrea was happy to hear how we ended up with him. Shane and Andrea decided that we couldn't let him go, especially after he told us that he went to school with Maggie. He would be able to bring his group to the farm.

"We had Randall shackled in the shed while we discussed what we would do. Against Dale's wishes, execution was being discussed. We couldn't let him go. We didn't' trust him if he stayed. We would have another mouth to feed and at least two people would have to watch him at all times. It sounds selfish, but my only concern was putting my family in danger. Even though the bible says thou shall not kill, I thought I might actually vote for the execution. We decided that we would each think on it and would reconvene that evening for a vote.

"Without us knowing, Shane went into the shed to get information on Randall's group. Randall told Shane that they had 30 heavily armed men with automatic weapons. He said that they had men, women and children in their group, but only the men went out to scavenge. Apparently they did more than that to anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. He said that one day they came across a father with two teenage girls…and they were young and pretty. Those men raped them while they made their father watch. They didn't kill them, though. Like they should get credit for that even after what they had done. He swore he wasn't one of the perpetrators, but if he was there, he was guilty. If his group found us, our men would be dead and our women would wish they were.

"Shane beat that boy nearly to death to get the information. Then he put a bullet in his head. Back at the bar, Rick had killed Dave and Tony, but they were an immediate threat. I, for one, had no doubt they were going to kill us. I don't think Rick regretted what he did, but I think that he wished it hadn't been needed. I think Shane enjoyed what he did. That worries me. I don't know what he's capable of." Hershel turned to Glenn.

"That leads us back to the reason that I wanted to speak with you. This lawless world has allowed very bad and dangerous people free reign. You are a good man. An honorable man. You made a difference here before you even got here. You saved my girl. You taught us a lesson from that encounter. We need to remember what's out there, both living and not. I'm truly grateful that you found Maggie. She is all I have left in the world. There is no way that I can ever repay what you did or thank you enough."

* * *

**BITCHING**

Daryl had just come out of the house after seeing Hershel and ran into Lori on the front porch. Jesus Christ, these people were like house flies, buzzing around with their only purpose in life being to annoy the fuck out of ya.

"Well, Daryl, it looks like you've recovered. Why are you still here?" Lori asked.

"Maggie _invited_ us. What about you?"

"Carl was hurt. We had to come here. Hershel saved him."

"Looks like he's better, too, and _you're_ still here."

"Yes, we are," Lori said.

"Are you sure _you're_ welcome?"

"Of course," she said hesitantly looking off to the side. Daryl followed her gaze and saw Maggie coming back from a run.

"Looks like you're still getting other people to do all of the heavy liftin'," he told her.

"We do what we have to," she replied. As their conversation heated up, they were starting to get the attention of those around them. "It looks like you weren't missing any meals."

"'Cause we weren't."

"Some of us weren't having it so easy."

"No one said it was easy," he growled. "We worked for it. Can you say the same?"

"We do our share," she told him. Daryl just scoffed.

"Sure ya do. You're only still here 'cause these folks are takin' pity on ya. We both know you're just using 'em."

"You _left_ us, we didn't have _anything_," she snarled.

"Who's fault is that, Olive Oyl?"

"The _kids_ were hungry," she hissed.

"Not the one you lost. The one we had was eatin' just fine. It was your call back at the quarry, not mine."

"You didn't have to leave with Glenn. You _abandoned_ us. Maybe there just more to your relationship than friends."

"Ain't none of your fucking business what we are or aren't. You want to talk relationships? How 'bout the little triangle ya got going on with Rick and Shane. You think you's being _discreet_? I can do the math. You even know who the daddy is?"

"Shut your mouth!" she shrieked.

"Or _what_?" he asked. He walked away leaving her standing there with the rest of the group looking on.

* * *

**STOCKHOLM SYNDROME?**

Glenn and Daryl were up at their camp working on making some bolts and arrows. Sophia had come up to help them. Carol and Shane approached.

"Sophia, time to go back to our camp," Carol told her. Sophia looked up at her.

"OK. I just finished mine anyway." She said good-night to Daryl and Glenn and headed down the hill.

"I want you to stay away from Sophia," Carol told them. "I've said it before. I shouldn't have to keep repeating myself."

"She's the one who follows us," Glenn said. "She comes up here to see us. We don't mind. We like to spend time with her. If you don't want her around us, you need to tell her that."

"I have. She won't listen."

"Carol's her mother," Shane said. "You need to respect her decisions regarding her daughter."

"Yeah, she is her mother. She says it all the time. Sayin' and doin's two different things. Where was she when Ed was hitting Sophia?" Daryl turned to Carol. "And don't tell me you didn't see how he looked at her…everyone else did."

"I would never let that happen," Carol said indignantly. Daryl snorted in disbelief. Glenn turned to Shane.

"Why are you even over here?" Glenn asked. "This isn't any of your business."

"I was just telling Carol about StockholmSyndrome_._" Shane said. "That's where hostages identify with and have positive feelings for their captors. Sometimes they even defend them."

"I know what it is, Dickhead. Why were you talking about that?"

"'Cause maybe it applies here."

"You make it sound like we kidnapped her, like we brainwashed her," Glenn said astonished.

"Maybe you did," Shane said. Daryl turned on him.

"You're bat-fuck crazy! S'long as we're talkin' 'bout Sophia getting lost, were ya even looking for her?"

"Carl was shot," Shane said. "We had to get him help."

"And?" Daryl asked. "Ya didn't answer the question."

"Had to think of the group first," Shane told him. Glenn looked at Carol.

"So, how did you feel about that?" Glenn asked her.

"We _did_ look for her," she snapped.

"Yeah? How long? You've been here for months. How long before you gave up on her?"

"How dare you imply…"

"I'm not implying anything," Glenn said. "I'm asking outright. How long before you gave up?" Carol glared at Glenn.

"Shane stepped up…"

"Don't bother defending Shane to me," he said interrupting her. "Stockholm Syndrome anyone? Look in the mirror."

"Don't matter," Daryl said. "Sophia's been through a lot. She's always gonna be number one with us. She's worth more that all four of us put together. We don't wanta do anything to stand between you and Sophia but we will never turn that girl away if she comes ta us unless it is too dangerous for her to be with us."

"_I_ think it's _always_ dangerous for her to be around you," Shane growled. Daryl stood nose to nose with him.

"Well, _I_ think it's dangerous for them _all_ to be around _you_," Daryl replied

Shane sneered at Daryl. This wasn't going to be the end of it.

* * *

**SLEEVES**

As the days went by, Glenn and Daryl continued to keep their distance but they did their share to earn their keep. As Glenn passed a little too close to the camp area, Lori spotted him and started sniping.

"Nice crossbow," she told Glenn mockingly.

"Thanks," he said, not taking the bait. "Daryl says I'm a natural. Got us more than a few good meals out of it."

"And the boots and cargo pants?" she mocked.

"Well, they're practical," he answered honestly, shrugging his shoulder. "What's with the questions?

"You look ridiculous," she said.

"What I look like is a survivor…a well-armed, well-fed survivor.

"Are you trying to be some kind of 'mini-Daryl'?" she asked smirking. Glenn laughed outright.

"No, if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't still have sleeves." She continued to hear him laughing as he walked away.

* * *

**DANGEROUS**

Shane followed Daryl into the woods. Daryl knew he was there the entire time and finally let Shane know.

"Know you're there. Sound like a fat-ass bull in a china shop," Daryl told him turning around to face Shane.

"I could have killed you, you know," Shane told him.

"Ya think so, huh? Try it. We'll see who comes out on top," Daryl replied.

"I'll do it if you don't stay away from _my_ people. I'm top dog around here and it's going to stay that way."

"You're a playground bully, that's all," Daryl said trying to bring Shane down a notch. He knew that Shane was unpredictable and that he might be causing more harm than good, but he just couldn't stop himself.

"You need to watch what you say, boy."

"Whatever," Daryl replied with a snicker. "You think I don't know what's going on here? I can see it plain as day even if those idiots don't."

"So, what exactly do you think is going on?" Shane asked.

"Well, I know you want to get rid of Rick so you can have Lori all to yourself, along with the brat and that baby she's carryin'."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. I think you got off on beating and killing that kid Randall. I know you murdered Otis."

"Randall was evil and a danger."

"And Otis?" Shane looked at Daryl and just shrugged.

"Otis was valuable only to the degree that he was helpful, and oh, he _was_ helpful in the end," Shane told him.

"I also know that the Greenes want you to leave and take your whole fucked-up group with ya," Daryl continued.

"Well, it don't matter what you think," Shane said with a sneer. "It don't matter what they want. We ain't leaving, no matter what. We're not giving up this farm."

"It ain't your farm," Daryl reminded Shane.

"It is now."

* * *

_A/N: _

_Some might have opinions about whether or not Daryl and Glenn are interfering with and/or undermining Carol's position as Sophia's mother. I don't believe Carol and Sophia had a very strong bond. Sophia was terrified of Ed and it seemed like she was sort of unsure about Carol sometimes, maybe because Carol didn't get them away from Ed. Plus, I can see where Sophia would gravitate toward capable, loving male role models as she never had that before. _

_Sophia may have a bit of a smart mouth. All teenagers get one of those sooner or later (LOL). In Sophia's defense, this is probably the first time in her life that she feels any sense of self-worth. It has empowered her somewhat to take charge and have some say in her life (yes, even though she is 13). _

_OK, enough with the notes. I'll try to control myself in the future. _

_Thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated. Please let me know what you think._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

_A/N: _

_Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. Your responses really motivate me to write. I look forward to working on the next chapter and getting it out to you soon._

* * *

**THIEF**

Daryl was digging through the saddle bag of his motorcycle unable to find something.

"Hey, Glenn. You do somethin' with my gun?"

"No, last time I saw it, it was in there."

"Fuckers," Daryl growled stomping off toward the other camp. Rick sees him coming and can see the anger radiating off him.

"Daryl, something wrong?" he asked as Daryl approached.

"_Hell_ _yeah_, somethin's wrong. Seems my gun has gone missin' from my motorcycle. Ya'll wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would'ya?" He is met with blank faces.

"At least someone answer me instead of just staring at me with stupid looks on your faces!"

"Daryl," Sophia said. He looked at her. "Carl had a gun." Everyone turned and looked at Carl.

"Tattle-tale," he said glaring at Sophia. She just shrugged.

"Do you have a gun?" Lori asked. Carl nodded. He walked over to his backpack and pulled it out.

"What were you thinking?" Lori hissed at Carl.

"I wanted one. Everyone else has one," he said.

"Carl," Rick said, "give him back his gun and apologize."

"Sorry," Carl mumbled handing the gun over. Daryl looked first at Rick that at Lori, expecting more.

"That's it? That's his punishment. That little brat has three parents and ain't a single one of ya doin' a decent job."

"Three?" asked Rick.

"Yeah, three. You, her and Shane. Shane's got more influence on that kid than both of ya combined. Ya need to learn how to control your kid. He had no right to go through my stuff, much less steal any of it. Runnin' off all the time. Dumb bitch has never been able to keep track of him. Kid's gonna get himself killed and when he does hopefully he won't take anyone else with him. He comes near my stuff again I'm gonna beat his ass. Somethin' that's long overdue."

* * *

**A TOTAL NIGHTMARE**

Glenn awoke to find himself propped against a tree with his wrists tied behind his back and his ankles tied. He looked around and saw Daryl tied and laying on his side with a large bruise already forming across his cheek and down his jaw line. Sophia was also there. Her hands were tied behind her back too, but she was tied to a tree by a rope around her neck like a fucking dog leash. Glenn could see the remnants of her tears on her face.

"Sophia?" he asked.

"Glenn! You're awake. I'm so scared. Shane's gone crazy. He brought me here and you and Daryl were tied up. I don't know what to do," she said starting to sob.

"We're going to be ok."

"Are you?" Shane asked. "What would give you a ridiculous idea like that?"

"What are you _doing_? Have you gone completely crazy?"

"Nope. Just time to take out the trash."

"Let Sophia go. She hasn't done anything to anyone."

"Too late for that. When, or _if_, you're found, she'll tell what she knows. Can't have that."

"She's just a girl. You can just let her go. She won't say anything and even if she does, no one will believe her. Not if it's her word against yours."

"Now, what would be the fun in that?" he asked.

"Fucking bastard," Daryl growled, now awake. He rolled over and managed to get into a sitting position.

"Good. You're awake. Now we're gonna get the party started." Shane walked over to where Daryl sat and pulled out his knife. He slowly drew it across Daryl's chest leaving a long red gash. Daryl hissed in pain.

"You're gonna scream before I'm done," Shane snarled. Shane continued to run his knife over Daryl's skin and rivulets of red ran down his skin landing on the leafy ground. As more cuts were made and more blood was lost, Daryl continued to get weaker.

"Now, here's what's going to happen, Daryl. I'm going to continue this until you run dry. Then we're gonna watch while you change into one of those animals. You're the big, bad hunter, right. Let's see what you hunt then. Maybe them," he said waving his knife indicating Glenn and Sophia.

Glenn and Sophia watched helplessly as Shane continued to torture Daryl. They both begged for Shane to stop. Daryl finally succumbed to the loss of blood never giving Shane the satisfaction of hearing him scream. All they could do was sit and watch as Daryl became one of those monsters.

Shane cut the ties around Daryl's wrists but he left his ankles bound. Daryl immediately started crawling toward Glenn and Sophia. Glenn kicked him hard in the face, as he struggled to put himself between Daryl and Sophia. Shane went over and cut Sophia loose from the tree and shoved her toward Daryl. Daryl managed to get a hand around her ankle. Glenn was yelling for Sophia to hold on to him. As Daryl's grip tightened and she was slowly being pulled toward him, Glenn could hear Shane laughing.

"GLENN!" Daryl shouted. Glenn was drenched in sweat, fighting Daryl who was trying to wake him up. Glenn's eyes snapped open. Once he was finally waking up, he started hyperventilating. It took almost 15 minutes to get Glenn calmed down.

"'m fine," he told Daryl, pushing him away.

"Sure ya are. I don't think so."

" I don't wanna talk about it. Leave me alone," Glenn told him.

"Not gonna happen," Daryl said.

"Fine! You want to know what my dream was? Shane hurt Sophia. He tortured and killed you and we had to sit there and watch. Then you turned and came after me and Sophia. Shane was laughing. Laughing! You pulled Sophia right out of my arms. She was screaming." By the end, Glenn was shaking and started to breath fast.

"Stop," Daryl told Glenn grabbing and holding onto his wrists. "Slow down your breathing. Look at me. With me. Iiiiin. Ouuut. Iiiiin. Ouuut. That's better." Glenn nodded. "We won't let anything happen to Sophia. I won't let him do anything to me or you. I'll kill him before any of that happens. We're gonna be just fine." Glenn nodded again. He took a deep breath and laid back down. Daryl did too, but he didn't sleep the rest of the night. He kept watch.

* * *

**WARNING**

"Rick, I know you don't want to hear this, but ya need to know to watch out for Shane. He is up to no good. He is a danger to the Greenes and almost everyone in your group, includin' you.

"Look, Daryl, I know Shane is a little rough in how he does things, but he is trying to keep everyone alive."

"Listen to what I'm saying! Shane will do anything to get what he wants. That includes killin' you to have Lori, Carl and that baby for himself and takin' out the Greenes in order to stay on this farm. He is a psychopath. He's killed before and he'll kill again."

"Of course he's killed. We all know that. He killed Randall, but Randall was a danger to all of us."

"He also killed Otis without a lick'a guilt," Daryl told him.

"Wait, what do you mean he killed Otis? What on earth makes you think that?"

"Rick, you told me yourself how _brave_ they were 'cause they went over there to the high school with just a pistol and shotgun. Tell me this, if Otis covered Shane and the walkers swarmed Otis, how is it that Shane got back with both guns? Open your eyes," Daryl said as he walked away.

* * *

**STAY OR GO**

There was finally a big confrontation in the yard. Glenn was pulling Daryl back and Rick was holding Shane.

"You need to get the fuck out of here," Shane yelled.

"Ain't gonna happen," Daryl fired back.

"Oh, yes it is," Shane replied.

"No! You can't leave!" Sophia cried. "If you do, you have to take me with you!"

"Absolutely not!" Carol yelled, trying to pull her back. Sophia hugged Daryl around the waist, clinging to him.

"Please don't leave me," she begged.

"Oh, Sweetie, if we had to leave it ain't you we'd be leaving. You're the only reason we stayed this long. There's other things goin' on that you don't know about," Daryl told her.

"I _do_ know. They think you freakin' molested me. I _told_ them you didn't."

"We know you did," Glenn told her. She moved over to hold onto Glenn.

"Please don't go."

"We ain't said we're leavin', but either way, you're gonna be fine now. You're with your mom again. Ya know a lot 'bout how ta defend yourself. And Rick'll help keep ya safe," Daryl told her.

"No, he won't. He didn't before. And Shane's mean. I don't like him. He scares me. Please take me with you," she begged, now crying. "Don't you love me anymore?"

"'Course we do," Daryl said.

"We will always love you," Glenn added.

"Then why don't you want to take me with you?" she asked.

"Sophia, Sweetheart, it ain't that we don't _want_ ta take you."

"It will be ok, really," Glenn said stoking her hair. "_If_ we do leave, you'll stay here with your mom and help take care of the others."

"I don't want to stay here with my mom. I want to go with you."

"Sophia!" Carol cried. "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. I mean it."

"You're too young to make that kind of decision," Carol said.

"I'm old enough to know what I want," she told her mother.

"We would love that," Daryl said, "but ya know we can't just take ya from your mom. It don't work that way."

"It should," she told him. Those words felt like a knife to Daryl's chest. Glenn could see a pained look pass on Daryl's face. If he had to put a label on it, he would say he looked haunted.

"I think you should stay," Maggie told them. "You might not think it, but you _are_ welcome here. _I_ say you're welcome here so that makes it true. I want you to stay and so does my dad."

"We understand that and appreciate you sayin' it, but there's a lot goin' on that you don't know about," Daryl told her. "We're grateful to ya for lettin' us stay here and to your dad for takin' care'a me when I was hurt. You are truly good people. World needs more of ya. Take care of each other. Watch out for each other. No one else is going to." Shane glared at Daryl. Dale stepped forward.

"I don't want you to leave either," Dale said. "I didn't speak up last time, but I'm not going to make the same mistake again. I think we were wrong before…in fact, I know we were. Mistakes were made in the heat of the moment…" Dale paused.

"Yes, mistakes were made in the past but they weren't all in the heat of the moment," Glenn said. "It would have only taken a few simple words, but that didn't happen. We came back to camp after everything calmed down. We packed up all our stuff, yet no one said anything. It was hours later, and still no one said anything. Dale, when you finally spoke up, you were just too late."

"And that was just then," Daryl picked up. "What about what happened _here_? We're tired of havin' to defend ourselves all the time. We shouldn't have to. We ain't done nothin' wrong."

"I'm sorry," Dale said. Glenn and Daryl nodded in acknowledgement.

"More people want you to stay than want you to leave," Maggie said. "Only Lori, Shane, Carol and Andrea want you to leave. We can make sure that you won't have to deal with them."

"You can't make that kind of promise," Glenn told her.

"You know that ain't gonna be possible," Daryl added.

"Then maybe _you_ should stay and _they_ should go," Maggie said.

"Absolutely not," Daryl said. "We can't send them out there. Not Sophia. Not even that little shit Carl. Much as I can't stand Lori, she can't be out there runnin' when expectin' a baby. Don't give a shit about her, but that baby ain't done nothin' wrong. It don't deserve to be in any more danger than it's already in," he said glancing at Shane.

"Lori and the baby are none of your concern," Shane told Daryl.

"They aren't yours either," Glenn said. "You might want to remember that…right, Rick?"

"Group's broken," Daryl said. "Will be broken whether we're here or not."

"We're gonna head back up the hill," Glenn said as he turned to Maggie. "We'll think about what you said." They both turned and walked away.

"I hope you leave. Good riddance," Lori mumbled. Once they were away, Sophia turned and railed on the group.

"How _dare_ you! You're wrong about them. You're _wrong_! I _hate_ you _all_!" she screamed. She turned and walked away. She followed Daryl and Glenn up to their campsite.

Daryl knew she was behind them the entire way. Once he and Glenn got up the hill, they turned and waited for her.

"Ya shouldn't be up here this far away from the house by yerself," he told her.

"Why not?" she asked. "Carl does it all the time."

"Yeah, I know he does. That alone should tell you that it ain't the smartest thing to do." Sophia smiled at him.

"Plus, I'm not by myself. I'm with you." Couldn't fault her logic there.

"Thank you for everything you did," she said. "If you leave, will I ever get to see you again?" Both Daryl and Glenn squatted down so they could look into her face.

"Maybe, someday," Daryl replied, wiping tears from her cheeks. Sophia leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you," she told him.

"Love ya, too, Sweetheart," he told her. "Always will." She turned and hugged Glenn.

"Love you," she said to him.

"Me too, Sweetie, me too," he said.

"OK, get into the truck," Daryl said. "We'll take ya down to the house."

Once in the cab of the truck, Daryl started the engine and flipped on the headlights. The sight that greeted them was worse than any horror movie they had ever seen. The field was covered with walkers. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands of them.

* * *

_A/N: _

_Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you to those who have taken a few seconds to leave feedback._


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